Showing posts with label Wagner Vineyards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wagner Vineyards. Show all posts

Thursday, September 12, 2013

#Winechat featuring 2012 Finger Lakes Riesling

Last night during our weekly Wednesday #winechat, we tasted through a quintuple of Riesling wines from New York's Finger Lakes. These wines ranged from practically bone dry to frozen iced styled; and its mighty clear that the Finger Lakes delivers quality wine with each style.  When examining the label of a Finger Lakes Riesling be sure to peek at the back label which should include a Riesling Taste Profile. The profile is designed to make it easier for consumers to "predict the taste they can expect from a particular bottle of Riesling" and according to the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance (@FLXWine), there is almost unanimous compliance with the member wineries. Pretty cool.

We also learned about the age-ability of Reisling, in some instances they can maintain themselves for over a decade.  According to Red Newt Cellars (@FLXnewt), "The acid holds on cleanly, the sweetness mellows.  Great Riesling ages better than most red wines could dream of!"  And Fulkerson Winery (@FulkersonWinery) finds "that aging softens them. Brings out the petrol and honey notes." Who knew?

We started the evening with the Swedish Hill Winery (@SwedishHillWine) 2012 Dry Riesling at 0.8% RS and 12% alcohol, the driest of the bunch.  This wine uncorks with powerful floral aromatics which the winery explained in a tweet - is partly due to the season, site, and wine making. The grape itself is clone 90, in which I learned there are approximately four Riesling clones planted in the Finger Lakes. And the site is on Cayuga Lake, one of the right fingers.  The wine itself continues with floral, green apple flavors and nice acidity.

Next up was the single vineyard Standing Stone Vineyards (@SSVNY) Old West Block 2012 Riesling at 1.4% RS and 12.2% alcohol.  The grapes were harvested from the old Gold Seal Vineyards, first planted  in 1972.  The wine has plenty of acidity to balance the additional sweetness and displays a more peaches and honey flavors intertwined with some stoney earthiness.

Moving further along the Riesling Taste Profile, the Red Newt Cellars Circle Riesling 2012 comes in at 3.2% RS and only 11% alcohol. Easy to get carried away with this one. According to @FLXnewt the Circle Riesling is here to remind people that the words "everyday" and "Riesling" DO belong together. And "the RS worked out naturally for us in 2012 to this level; ripe fruit aromas boost the sweet impression instead." During the chat, many of our fellow bloggers recommend spicy foods with the wine or as we dined - spicy pork sausages. The wine itself swayed from apricot to honeyed pear - with the refreshingly balanced acidity.

The Wagner Vineyards (@WagnerVineyards) 2012 Riesling Select is in a similar ballpark  at 4.2% RS and 11.2% alcohol. This wine is made from grapes grown from the winery's oldest block of Riesling, planted in 1979, with the original vines still yielding fruit. Once again, balance. The sweet pineapple flavors blended seamlessly with the effervescent finish. 

Last was from the far right on the Tasting Profile, the Fulkerson Winery 2012 Riesling Iced Wine.  They had wanted to leave the grapes on the vine to produce a true ice wine, but Mother Nature interfered so they grapes were harvested at full ripeness and then frozen. After fermentation, the wine was then aged six months in new oak. The result is a honeyed fig flavored wine coming in at 19.7% RS, but, once again, only 11% alcohol. But even with the intense sweetness the inherent acidity comes through again. The winery tells us that the "Riesling Iced Wine is fantastic with an apple tart or rich cheeses (sharp cheddar, Danish Blue, etc.)". I also want to sample their 0.2% bone dry Riesling as well as their true 2008 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine. Nice range of offerings.

For the past decade, I've said I'm going to visit the Finger Lakes, I need to get on that promise. Look how many there are to choose from. Cheers.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

2012 Finger Lakes Wine Virtual Tasting Series for Finger Lakes - Gewurztraminer

On Wednesday April 18th, I participated in the first 2012 Finger Lakes Wine Virtual Tasting Series for Finger Lakes white wines, sponsored by the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance. And not Riesling white wines, but a mixture dominated by Gewurztraminer but including other grape varieties that demonstrate they diversity of the Finger Lakes region.   There was the Austrian Gruner Veltliner, Alsace Pinot Blanc, and staples such as Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. The samples were also representative of the three largest lakes: Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka. And, most importantly, all the wines sampled are low in alcohol and priced until $20. Earlier in the week, I discussed the non-gewurztraminers here - so now its time for the Gewurz.

Apparently this is a popular grape among the Finger Lakes wineries and is becoming just as prevalent as Riesling. This is perhaps a bit of an over-statement, but a guess of 50 producers in the region was thrown out. It is produced in all lakes, and I asked the winemakers if there are any lake-induced differences. The consensus was that there is a difference between wineries - as is the case with Riesling - but this difference results more from production methods and not "terrior". And these production methods create both dry and semi-dry versions.

Started with the dry, the grapes for the Sheldrake Point Winery 2011 Gewurztraminer were not harvested until mid-October. This allowed the fruit to gain traction and the final product is balanced with nice acidity. The aroma falsely imply sweetness, but there's actually only 0.4% rs.
Vibrant yellow gold in color, with a sensuous and silky weave of acid and mineral on the palate. Flowered perfume of rose and passion fruit flow to silky red grapefruit on the finish. – Winemaker’s Notes

The grapes for the Seneca Shore Wine Cellars 2010 Dry Gewurztraminer were harvested a full month earlier and made to a similar 0.43% rs; but is a completely different wine. It portrays more of the grape's inherent spiciness.
This big, unctuous and full bodied white wine has a thick, creamy texture and fruit galore. The nose is reminiscent of fresh tea roses with a palate filled with juicy lycee fruit, finished with spicy pepper. – Winemaker’s Notes

Moving to the semi-dry styles, Gewurztraminer contains enough acids to balance this style. The Rooster Hill Vineyards 2010 Estate Gewurztraminer was my favorite gewurz for the evening. It is produced from a single vineyard - Catherine Vineyard - on the east side of Keuka Lake. Even with 1.8% rs, this is a refreshing wine, lycee flavors and spice. Very nice.
This single vineyard Gewurztraminer from the Catherine Vineyard is aromatic with soft, pretty rose petal, accented by hints of citrus, grass and Asian spice. A bright and refreshing wine with a delicate spicy finish. – Winemaker’s Notes 

The Wagner Vineyards 2010 Gewurztraminer Semi-Dry contains similar sugar levels (1.75%) and the grapes were grown surrounding Seneca Lake.  This wine also portrays how extra sweetness imparts more flavors than the dry versions; with enough acid to generate a balanced mouth feel. 
A mouthfilling wine, full of spicy fruit flavors & an orange blossom bouquet. – Winemaker’s Notes 
It's time to plan a trip to the Finger Lakes Wine Country. There is a diverse wine world that we need to check out. And here's the link to the recorded live stream. Cheers.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/finger-lakes-wine-virtual-tasting-series